PUBLIC LIBRARIES

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 17, 20 January 1940, Page 19

PUBLIC LIBRARIES

BOOKS OF THE WEEK

The City Librarian has chosen "Live and Kicking Ned," by John Masefield, as the book of the week, and has furnished the following review:—

About twelve months ago Mr. Masefield's story "Dead Ned" was reviewed in this column. "Live and Kicking Ned" is a sequel. It will be remembeAed that Ned Mansell was hanged—but not until he was dead. He was brought back to life. Hence the titles of the two books. The newer one, dealing less with a strong dramatic situation, and serving more as a vehicle for satire, has some affinities with Defoe and the boys' writers of the last generation as well. It is, indeed, a strange mixture, but all in the same manner, and co-ordinated in a way that pays ample tribute to Mr. Masefield's genius. ■ Writing a fantasy he can'^enthral,-with; his "Treasure Island" and "Dead Man's Rock" narrative,- his slaver-captains and sadistic Mates, and at the same time enchant the subtler-minded with a leisurely, stinging, and most effective brand of satire. Ned, so to speak, could not be left in . the air after being • cut; down. He had to be more decently disposed of. Mr. Masefield gives him, and the public,, a good run, and then fishes him satisfactorily out of danger and clears his name. Not only Defoe and Henty, and even Swift, spring to the mind as one turns the pages of "Live-and Kicking Ned." There is even a reminiscence of a younger and very different writer,. Evelyn Waugh, I in the descriptions of one of the j strangest wars of fantasy. Mr. Masefield is like a French chef—he tosses all the oddments into his saucepan, and produces a brilliant pudding. RECEINT LIBRARY ADDITIONS. Other titles selected from recent accession lists are as foilows:— General.—"The City of the Strait," by A. E. Mulgan; "Random Recollections," by A. C. Hanlon; "Consulting Room," by F. M. Loomis. Fiction: "Not a Sparrow Falls," by N. Bell; "Fever," by F. J. Thwaites; "The Shetland Plan,"- by "Taffrail."